


By the Power of Melian

by AllonsyMiddleEarth



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Doriath, Silmarillion - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 19:31:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1790602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllonsyMiddleEarth/pseuds/AllonsyMiddleEarth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Far to the north befell the strife of Morgoth and Ungoliant; but the great cry of Morgoth echoed through Beleriand, and all its people shrank for fear; for though they knew not what it foreboded, they heard then the herald of death. Soon afterwards Ungoliant fled from the north and came into the realm of King Thingol, and a terror of darkness was about her; but by the power of Melian she was stayed."</p>
<p>We know Melian had enough power to ward off Ungoliant, but with how hard it was for Melkor to fight her off, it couldn’t have been an easy thing for Melian.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By the Power of Melian

Thingol sat silently in his chair and just watched his advisors argue, as they so often did. They were all wondering about exactly what terrible thing had happened, for they knew the terrible cry that had echoed through Beleriand meant evil was about, but they knew not what it meant.  
  
Thingol looked to Melian for an answer, but noticed with terror that she had gone so pale her skin and being was nearly translucent, and she stared straight ahead with a fear in her eyes as he had never seen in her before.  
  
“She’s here.” Melian managed to utter, then collapsed to the floor, shaking and panting.   
  
“Melian?” Thingol dropped beside her and gathered her in his arms. She was as cold as the dead.  
  
“Do something, get someone!” He shouted vaguely to the rest of the council and a few members left the room, though it was clear no one knew who to get- it was Melian they would go to for answers when strange things happened.  
  
“Melian, what is it?” He tried to ask her, but Melian had her eyes closed and seemed entirely gone from her physical surroundings.   
 _  
“Yes, look at this pretty little kingdom all guarded by your ‘fence.’ Thought it would keep you safe, did you?”_ Ungoliant’s sickening laugh sounded in Melian’s head as she felt Ungoliant push against the barrier of the Girdle.  _“You heard what pain I caused Melkor, do you truly think you are any more of a match for me?”_

“Stop!” Melian convulsed, she was already shaking violently with the effort of holding the Girdle steady. She could feel Ungoliant’s eight clawed legs scratching at the Girdle as if they were scratching at her physically, and the darkness Ungoliant put forth was creating dents and scratches in the North of the Girdle and rendering her own mind unclear. If Ungoliant succeeded just a small amount more, the whole thing would collapse. Melian couldn’t hold on for long…  
  
“You will not get in!” She shouted, and it must have been out loud, because she felt Thingol’s arms tighten around her, but Ungoliant only laughed, continuing to tear at the Girdle with her darkness.   
  
 _“Sleep…”_ Ungoliant’s voice urged her and her mind instantly felt heavy and drowsy, and Melian wanted to sleep, so desperately, she was already so weak… She could feel her mind trying to listen to the monster’s will, but she couldn’t let it, she needed to fight.  
  
“Elu…” Melian whispered, panting. She found his hand and gripped it as tightly as she could, trying to give herself some strength to hold on to, but her physical strength was waning with her mental strength.  _I can’t hold on._ she tried to tell him, but she couldn’t find it in her to speak.    
  
They struggled for some time longer, Ungoliant’s strength never seemed to fade, while each new attack with claws and darkness on Melian made her feel as though she were as weak as a child, with no Ainu strength in her. The battle continued, and somewhere it registered to Melian that she had no power against the creature; Ungoliant could hurt her again and again, and Melian had no power to hurt Ungoliant, just barely enough to resist her.  
  
Someone must have told Lùthien that something was happening, because even with her gasps for air and energy and her eyes squeezed tightly closed, Melian recognized her daughter’s footsteps as she knelt beside them.   
  
“Mother?” Lúthien put a cool hand on her cheek.  
  
Melian tried to focus on her strength, on her family, on Lúthien’s cool touch and soft voice, on Elu’s strong hands and arms around her, but  Ungoliant’s blackness blurred her thoughts. Ungoliant’s power was a burning hot presence on her mind and her power, and her darkness and malice burned Melian through all her other senses.   
  
 _"You thought you could keep them safe."_ She said patronizingly, and Melian knew Ungoliant could sense her attempts to focus on her family. She was almost through, Melian could feel the Girdle weakening. She thrashed in Thingol’s arms, desperately willing her power to  _work_. _  
  
’l’ll tear them to pieces._ The spider sneered.  _I’ll rip them apart. An elven-king and a half-Ainu child! They’ll taste better than any light I’ve ever had…  
  
“You won’t touch them. Ever!” _Melian gripped Elu’s hand tighter and did her best to hold on to the Girdle, just a bit harder.   
  
 _"I nearly can…you know I will."_ Ungoliant told her, and Melian felt the Girdle shatter and she screamed in horror, almost drowning out the sound of Ungoliant’s laughter in her head. She was coming.   
  
 _No._ Melian thought.  _No. Not while I live. While I live, I have power left.  
  
_ With what little strength she had left, the panic inside her seemed to drive her power to take over. Without knowing what she was going to do, or able to do, Melian sat up suddenly, her head jerked back, and a fiery white-red light poured from her eyes unlike anything that had been a part of this form since she had taken it for Elu, all those years ago.   
  
Elu and Lúthien were forced to release her quickly, as her very form started to burn with the heat of the energy inside her.  
  
 _“GET OUT!”_ She screamed, and the words must have had her power behind them, because Melian could feel the walls of Menegroth rumbling around her and she felt Ungoliant slow. For the first time, she felt a twinge of fear in the spider’s being, and that small thing helped to drive Melian on.  
  
 _Out._ She thought furiously, and sent forth all the light left inside her. It was a white hot, burning energy that only she could see, but she knew that Ungoliant felt it when it hit her and the spider’s screams of pain and terror began. Melian’s hands fisted with effort, but she kept the light burning until the spider was rolling away in pain and terror, her awful squeaking screams echoing throughout the kingdom.  
  
Ungoliant gave no more taunts when she passed back through Doriath’s boarders, and Melian tried her best to put up a weakened form of the Girdle again. She knew Ungoliant would be hurt and weaker for some time and would not be back so soon, but Melian could still feel the spider’s darkness beyond the Girdle’s walls and she kept up her powers- needing to protect what was around her, until the light pouring from her was spent, and Melian fainted and knew no more that night.


End file.
